Shakuni was the brother of the mother of Kauravas, Gandhari. They were from the royal family of Gandharas. Shakuni was an expert in gambling and he had long cuboidal dices which listened to his commands. That’s why he always won. Some regional Mahabharatas have a story of how Shakuni and his family had been imprisoned and starved by the Kurus. The game of dice that he played with Yudhistira was his way of humiliating the Kuru family. More likely, he was just an evil person. In the game with Yudhistira, he won all of the riches and property of the Pandavas. He then goaded Yudhistira to put his brothers and wife at stake and Shakuni won them. So addicted to gambling was Yudhistira that all his learning did not help in making a simple choice of not putting his family to shame.

Once Yudhistira had lost Draupadi at the dice game, she became a slave of the Kauravas. Duryodhana sent a courtier Pratikami to get her to the sabha from the women’s quarters but she refused to come. He then sent his loyal acolyte and younger brother, Dushashna to get her. He knew that he would execute his orders, come what may. When Draupadi refused to come to the sabha again, he dragged her by the hair and brought her. In the sabha, he shamefully tried to disrobe her, thereby getting infamy as the eternal villain.

After being insulted at the Rajasuya yajna, Duryodhana comes back and devises a plan to hurt the Pandavas. He wants to have a gambling match or a dice game with them wherein he could snatch the Pandavas’ prosperity. Dhritrashtra agrees and sends Vidura to invite Yudhistira. Vidura wants a non-competitive match but the Kauravas don’t agree. They know that Yudhistira is addicted to gambling and will not refuse. Krishna had warned Yudhistira against such an invitation but to no avail. Yudhistira uses the excuse that it a kshatriya’s dharma not to refuse such an invitation. But this is a partial understanding. If such a move leads to destruction of one’s family & kingdom, it can’t be dharma.

Shishupla was one of the closest ally of Jarasandha. He was also related to Krishna. He was angry at the killing of Jarasandha and vehemently opposed Yudhistira when he anointed Krishna as the chief guest. Shishupala kept on insulting Krishna by abusing him and his family and refused to stop when asked by others. Krishna then killed him for disrupting the sacred occasion.

Karna had many good qualities. But in the episode in the sabha, he along with the others was extremely mean and disrespectful to Draupadi. He called her abusive names and even goaded Dushashna to shame her.

Draupadi is a heroine who did not lose her head even under extreme stress. When she was dragged to the sabha, he first saluted the elders and then asked a subtle question to Bhishma. She asked whether Yudhistira had first lost her or himself at the dice game. Having lost himself, he may have lost the right to stake his wife. But Bhishma was unable to think clearly and said “Dharma is subtle,” to justify his inaction.

Vikarna was a junior Kaurava, a younger brother of Duryodhana. He was the only clear headed person in the sabha that day. He forcefully opposed what was being done to Draupadi. The Pandavas were always grateful to him for this. Vikarna chose to fight for the Kauravas in the great war as he was a loyal brother. When Bheema killed him, he recalled how he had tried to save Draupadi.

Draupadi had five husbands but none came to her rescue when she was being humiliated in the sabha. Nathavati – with husbands, anathavat – without protection.

When Draupadi was being subjected to humiliation, the Pandavas did not react as they could not intervene, having been reduced to the status of slaves by then. The irrepressible Bheema could not hold back. He threatened the Kauravas but he was checked by Arjuna who told him that they could not go against their elder brother Yudhistira. Later, Draupadi would always turn to Bheema for help before any of her other husbands. After they were freed, Bheema swore to break Duryodhana’s thigh as he had invited Draupadi to sit on his thighs. He also swore to tear off Dushashna’s arms which he had used to drag Draupadi.

As Dushashna tugged at Draupadi’s sari, she held on to her sari with one hand and raised the other calling out to Krishna for help. In North Indian versions of the epic, it is said that Krishna responded only when she raised both her hands in total surrender to God, signifying importance of bhakti. She was then supplied with endless saris to cover her. In the original version, Vyasa says that she did not cry to Krishna and saris appeared on their own. Later interpreters suggested that it could only be the work of Krishna. Others might suggest that it was the audience sitting in the sabha that kept on throwing their clothes to her to save her from shame.

Dushashna was unable to disrobe Draupadi even after trying shamelessly as endless saris kept on appearing to save her. Dhritrashtra got frightened at these turns of event. He freed Draupadi and granted her two wishes. With the first wish she freed Yudhistira from slavery. With the second wish, she freed her other husbands. Draupadi maintained her composure and chose not to be angry with her husbands at their mistakes that had caused her so much discomfort. Of course, later in the story she does berate her husbands for their behaviour. So impressed was Dhritrashtra with her conduct that he returned their kingdom to the Pandavas and sent them back.

Duryodhana didn’t take kindly to the fact that his father had returned all that he had won from Yudhistira. Like always, he bullied his father and got him to send an invitation for a gambling rematch to Yudhistira. In an act of unexplainable foolishness, Yudhistira agreed. Shakuni once again played on Duryodhana’s behalf and easily defeated Yudhistira. This time, the Pandavas were asked to go into exile. A special feature was that they had to live disguised and incognito for a year following the 12 years of exile.

During their earlier exile after the lakshagruh episode, it was Kunti who guided and accompanied the Panadavas. This time, that role was played by the wife of the Pandavas, Draupadi. Kunti found herself living among the hostile Kauravas at Hastinapur. She stayed with Vidura, who was not only the half brother of her husband but was the most inclined to dharma at Hastinapur.